It’s common curtesy to give a gift when you attend someone’s birthday party, but what do you do if you forgot to buy a gift?

In today’s story, one family is debating the answer to that exact question.

The parents want to regift an item, but their child thinks this is a horrible idea.

Let’s read all the details.

AITA for telling my parents not to regift socks to my cousin when he didn’t like them the first time?

Two years ago for Christmas, my sister had gifted the same pair of socks to my dad and my cousin.

They were black socks with a Galaga-inspired design on them.

My dad thought they were cool, but he never likes to use new clothes until his old ones are completely worn down, so he put them away.

My cousin thought the gift was “just ok,” which in the gift-giving world means he did not like them.

Dad has an idea.

Fast forward 2 years, and my cousin’s birthday is today.

My parents forgot to get him anything, so my dad pulls out the socks from 2 years ago (still unopened and in the original packaging) and says they can just give him this and supplement with some money.

This isn’t a good idea.

I tell them this is a bad idea for multiple reasons:

1) my cousin didn’t seem thrilled with the socks 2 years ago

2) he will know it’s a regift because he was there at that Christmas when my dad got the same gift.

And 3) my sister (who isn’t here for this conversation but will meet us at the party) will see her gift being regifted, and this would probably make her feel like the socks weren’t appreciated by my dad.

He has a better gift idea.

To be clear, my dad did like the gift, he just is stressed that he doesn’t have time to find another gift.

I suggested that they just give him money, since that’s popular nowadays. They were going to give him some anyway along with the socks, so why not just remove the socks and increase the amount of money.

I know I’d be happy with receiving money, since that means I can spend it on anything, and my cousin has told me in the past that he thinks similarly.

The parents seem set on their gift idea.

My parents told me that this is none of my business and that it’s not a big deal, things get regifted all the time.

I said that they’re free to do whatever they want, but just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Was I the jerk here?

I agree with him that just giving money or possibly a gift card would be the better idea.

Regifting the socks is a bad idea for all the reasons he listed.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person calls the gift tacky.

Sometimes it’s okay to regift a gift.

Here’s an important rule when it comes to regifting.

Honesty is a better way to go.

It’s not always the thought that counts.

This is a pretty cringe idea.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.